After Action Reports involving Renault B1bis tanks in 1940

The French B1bis gave the Germans a bad licking resisting 3.7cm and even 7.5cm tank gunners with their superior armor. Because of the Renault B1bis nicknamed "Kolosse" and of the British Matilda II, the Germans called the 3.7cm PaK the “door-knocker”. Even Guderian had not dismissed these concerns in his memories and the up-and-coming officers in the German army would never forget the impression left of fearing enemy heavy armor and the need to counter them. The B1bis was almost invincible when engaged by 3.7cm AT guns. Mostly all the B1bis that have been lost due to the enemy have been destroyed by 8.8cm FlaK, indirect artillery fire, direct 10.5cm leFH fire and anti-tank mines. Many others have been abandoned after mechanical breakdowns or being out of fuel.

On 16th May in Stonne, a single B1bis tank (the B1bis "Eure" from Lieutenant Bilotte) pushed in the town itself into the German defences and went back. He attacked a German column of Pz.Rgt.8 and destroyed 2 PzIV, 11 PzIII and 2 Pak36 guns. The first shots destroyed simultaneously the first (with the 47mm gun) and the last tank (with the 75mm gun) of the column. The first German tanks were at less then 50m range. The armor of the B1bis was scattered with 140 impacts, no one penetrated or really damaged the armor. One can see here a kind of small 'Villers Bocage' and after that action Bilotte was nicknamed 'the butcher of Stonne' by his comrades.
Still on 16th May, around 17h00, the B1bis " Riquewihr " from Lieutenant Doumecq attacked towards Stonne and encountered a German infantry column, which fired at the tank with infantry weapons including anti-tank rifles, without effect. The B1bis crushed some German troops and pushed into a small village defended by the Schützen Regiment 64. When the soldiers saw the bloody tracks of the tank they fled in panic.

On the evening of 17th May in the bridgehead of Hauteville-Neuvilette, the 6.PzD had pulled a French heavy tank attack back. One of the 3.7cm Pak36 (Leutenant Neckenauer) had hit a French tank 25 times. Only at the 26th shot the track was hit enough to immobilize the tank but none of the other shells damaged the B1bis tank.

On 17th May in Crécy (North of Laon), report from the 1.PzD (BA-MA, RH 27-1/170, p.29) : "One B1bis tank crushed the defenses and took the direction of Mortiers, advancing along the 1st KRAD-Schützen battalion. The Pz.Rgt.1 was totally surprised and couldn't at first react. The B1bis tank advanced through Mortiers. Then the (German) tanks fired numerous shells on the rear of the B1bis. The B1bis stopped and the crew surrendered. The B1bis was scattered with impacts of 3.7cm and a few 7.5cm but NONE OF the shells penetrated the armor.

The battle on the Aisne River lasted from 17th May to the 11th June. The 14e DI illustrated itself by resisting to all the German attacks and it even took some 800 German POWs. De Lattre requisitioned 3 replacement B1bis tanks from the 8e BCC (bataillon de chars de combat) ("Villers-Bretonneux", "Téméraire" and "Lunéville") under the command of sous-lieutenant Robert to defend the bridges in Rethel. After 5 days of combats (17th - 21th May 1940) the area was still under French control and these 3 B1bis tanks had destroyed 20 tanks, 9 armored cars, 12 motorcycles / side-cars, 10 cars and 16 trucks.

On 17th May 1940, the B1bis "Mistral" and "Tunisie" from the 3/15e BCC (3rd company of the 15th tank battalion - 2e DCR) attacked the German troops at Landrecies, south of the Mormal Forest. Advancing between two columns of armored cars, light tanks (Panzer I and Panzer II) and probably armored personnal carriers (Sd.Kfz.251) they slaughtered 50-100 German AFVs in about 20 minutes.
The testimony of sous-lieutenant Gaudet, commander of the B1bis "Tunisie" enables to tell the story from the French side. Initially 2 B1bis tanks were to attack but shortly before one of them experienced a mechanical breakdown. During there movement towards Landrecies they stayed camouflaged and immobile during about 45 minutes since the Luftwaffe was strongly bombing the towns around.
The "Tunisie" (sous-lieutenant Gaudet) and the "Mistral" (lieutenant Pompier) stop at the entry of Landrecies, at the crossing of the roads to Ors and Avesnes-Le Cateau. A French convoy is completely abandoned beside the road. It is 12h00 and Landrecies seems unoccupied.
The "Mistral" moves on among the French abandoned vehicles and is followed by the "Tunisie". Several streets and squares are crossed without noticing something interesting. Suddenly the "Mistral" stops and opens fire with its 47mm turret gun and its 75mm hul gun. The "Tunisie" moves to the left but the intense smoke prevents him to see what is happening in front of the French tanks. The "Mistral" goes on, fires several times and moves towards the center of Landrecies. The "Tunisie" is following 100m behind. Suddenly, sous-lieutenant Gaudet discovers what was the target : a whole German armored cars and light tanks parked on both sides of the street and very close to each others. The "Mistral" turns in an adjacent road 150m in front of the "Tunisie". At the end of the road, on the church square, several German armored cars are burning after the action of the "Mistral". The "Tunisie" starts to fire meticulously and systematically on each German AFV in the street. The "Tunisie" moves two times all along the eastern part of Landrecies, firing on each spotted target.
The "Tunisie" has lost visual contact with the "Mistral" of the company commander and avoids to cross the bridge on the canal in Landrecies, assuming that the core and heavy elements of the German Panzerdivision are deployed in the western part of Landrecies. Nonetheless, two 3.7cm PaKs are defending the bridge. They fire on the French B1bis without effect and are quickly destroyed.
In Landrecies itself sous-lieutenant Gaudet says that there were probably about 200 AFVs. He destroyed two 3.7cm PaKs (for a total of 4) and many armored vehicles. He saw very few German soldiers in the street except AT gunners. All the crews fled and were hidden in the houses. The various hits on the turret of the B1bis tanks showed that the Germans fired also with AT rifles but they did not damage the tank. On the other hand, the machineguns of the B1bis tank (including AP cartridges) penetrated easily many German armored cars and put them on fire.
Fearing a counter-attack and without having achieved a complete destruction of the enemy vehicles, the "Tunisie" moves back. The streets are full of burning armored vehicles whose ammunition is exploding. Sous-lieutenant Gaudet estimates that about 100 German AFVs were burning or out of use. The "Tunisie" alone had fired 8 shells of 75mm, 27 shells of 47mm and 3 MG magazines (450 cartridges).
At 12h25, 20 minutes after being entered in Landrecies, the "Tunisie" moves to Ors on an empty road. Sous-lieutenant Gaudet meets 3 French soldiers who were POWs in Landrecies and managed to escape during the attack. In Ors the "Tunisie" meets the "Mistral" (lieutenant Pompier) but also the "Tornade" (sous-lieutenant Rival), the "Vosges" (lieutenant Willig) and the "Nantes" (sous-lieutenant Phelep), which arrived in reinforcement. The "Mistral" is covered by many hits but remains undamaged. Lieutenant Pompier has been back from Landrecies 10 minutes before sous-lieutenant Gaudet. He tells that he has destroyed two AT guns and many armored cars.
In about 20 minutes these 2 B1bis tanks have destroyed 6 AT guns and about 100 AFVs. Different sources confirm the terrific number of 100 destroyed AFVs but sous-lieutenant Raiffaud, commander of the B1bis "Indochine, also from the 3/15e BCC, speaks about 50 destroyed AFVs, which remains nevertheless a significant number.

On 28th May, during the battle of Abbeville, the B1bis "Jeanne d'Arc" from the 1/47e BCC (4e DCR) received more than 90 shells in 2 hours before being put out of combat. The attack starts at 17h00, east of Doudelainville. German AT guns fire on the "Jeanne d'Arc". Two German guns are quickly destroyed with the 75mm hull gun but one 3.7cm shell penetrates unluckily (or luckily, depends on the point of view) in the barrel of the hull gun and destroys it.
The "Jeanne d'Arc" takes the command of the 1st company and moves through Huppy (were a German infantry battalion is destroyed), firing with its MGs on the German soldiers who are met. Moving on, the B1bis crosses the RN28 road south-west of Les Croisettes and heads towards hill 104, where he is engaged by numerous German guns including 8.8cm FlaK. The turret is penetrated by 2 shells and is blocked, the gunsight and the episcopes are broken. The tank commander and the loader are WIA. Completely disarmed, the tank nonetheless charges the enemy. Several AT guns are crushed under the tracks and two vehicles are rammed and destroyed. Once the slaughter achieved the B1bis tank pulls back.
Back at the level of Les Croisettes, an other shell (probably a 8.8cm shell) penetrates the fuel tank on the left side and put the tank on fire. The crew bails out and hides in the hedges, avoiding all the German patrols. During the night the crew returned safely to the French lines.

Best regards,

David

 

Re: After Action Reports involving Renault B1bis tanks in 19

wow i just got done reading your la horge battle you have alot of info on your country in ww2

 

Sorry bout my first post. The info was awesome

 

Great post. Have you thought about publishing a book? This topic is totaly unknown outside France, and we are in dire need of a good book on this subject. All that is known on the subject usualy comes from German side.
It is interesting to note that Germans happily used captured Char's B1bis. There are known examples of this tanks in 7.SS freiwillige gebirgs Division Prinz Eugen in Yugoslavia. They were used as movible bunkers and artilery ( 75mm).

 

Th B1bis was a tough nut to crack, no doubt. Aside from being deployed improperly though there were definite problems.
On the plus side:
thick armor,
mostly impervious to 37mm AT fire (which made up the majority of German tanks deployed in the Battle of France
There were a few (very few) 50mm Panzer III's and some Panzer IV's and Stugs with a 75mm, except that it was an L/24, short barreled, low velocity infantry support gun and there were small numbers of PzJg 1's.)
Good gun,
relatively high velocity 47mm AT gun and a short barreled 75mm infantry support gun.

On the minus side:
1 man turret design was a real drawback. The Commander/gunner was overworked thus unable to do a good job at either task. The well trained German tankers were able to flank the B1bis relatively easily. The Commander/gunner could not keep his eye to the gunsight and acquire and track targets, fire the weapon, asssist in reloading and command the tank at the same time.
Poor situational awareness.
Slow
Unreliable mechanically
Poor communications with other tanks and with infantry due to substandard or no radios.

That is what comes to mind at the moment. Much has been made of the toughness of heavy French tanks of that early war era and it's true (the Somua or S-35 also was a relatively tough tank also) however the doctrine under which they were deployed was so flawed that it didn't make much difference in the end.
The Brits also shocked the Germans with the counterthrust at Arras using Matilda II's however they were unable to sustain and capitalize on the initial success and held up the advance for only one day.

 

Hi,

Have a look on my previous post, you will find elements to compare French and German tanks.

http://www.fun-online.sk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2213

Concerning PzIII armed with 5.0cm guns I never saw any evidence. Perhaps a few PzIII Ausf.G but still with the 3.7cm gun.

The first 5.0cm Pz III left the production line in JULY. During that month 21 were built and 17 of these accepted by Army. This is from Blatt G112 of the 15 December 1940 "Überblick über den Rüstungstand des Heeres". My guess is it would have been perhaps August, at the earliest, before they could show up with units.

Apparently if 50mm shells were already in production in June it was because the 5.0cm PaK38 were slowly being produced at this time.
Not because of 50mm gun armed PzIII.

Regards,

David

 

Concerning PzIII armed with 5.0cm guns I never saw any evidence.

I was under the impression that some small number of retrofitted III's with the 5cm Krup gun made it to France in time to participate in the battle but in that I may be wrong. The IIIH's were certainly too late inasmuch as october '40 was I think the earliest date available.
The 37mm gun with Pzgr 40 ammo (in reasonably good supply at this time) was naturally much more effective than the 37mm firing Pzgr 39 ammo and capable of penetrating a B1bis. There is no doubt though that the toughness of the French heavy tanks surprised the Germans and provided a difficult task when they were handled skillfully.